Making UX Relevant in Tough Times or "Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows"

Making UX Relevant in Tough Times Or “Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows” Jim Nieters– Director, User Experience Design, YSM and Apt from Yahoo! CHI Atlanta– 29-January-2009

Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Most important factor in UX relevance?  •  It’s the most important factor in business  •  It’s the most important factor in relaDonships  •  Yes, it’s Trust   •  Strong relaDonships and a deep network  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Execs are in a life‐and‐death struggle  Let me go find someone I trust (someone who aligns with me and who has a track record of delivering) Senior VP Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Examples Bill Walsh would rather have a  •  good player he could trust  than a  •  great player he couldn’t trust  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Examples– Keith Ferrazzi: •  RelaDonships based in trust  form the basis of all business  •  Employment at higher levels  depends on relaDonships  •  Decisions are made based on  relaDonships, not data  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Examples •  Donald Trump   •  Hillary Clinton  •  George HW Bush  •  Bernie Madoﬀ (seriously?)  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

How to not build trust‐ a word of cauDon  1.  Probe for safety, listen, and believe!  –  Be careful of a reputaDon as the “no” person  –  Create more than you criDcize  –  Stand on the hill of principle judiciously  2.  Be the trusted advisor, not the arguer  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

How do you build trust?  3.  Build a compelling vision  …use it to create posiDve momentum  It sounds easy, but is hard to do  4.  Commit and over‐deliver.  It is about personal accountability.  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Example– Stumbling into a playground:   Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Let’s dissect this. We:  5.  considered the larger business problem  6.  extended our focus beyond UI for one device  7.  built partnerships and coaliDons  8.  installed an empowered, intact team  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Ten principles of innovaDon:  1.  Create a playground culture! 5.  Involve real users! 6.  Redefine your business 2.  Ideate- be visual, think by problem doing, brainstorm, hijack, mash up, and hack, and think 7.  Dedicate time and effort the opposite 8.  Realize practical results 3.  Create a process that promotes innovation 9.  Involve cross-functional teams 4.  Create a supportive 10.  Conduct Innovation organizational structure Workshops! Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Yahoo Design Labs (YoDeLs)  A quick glimpse  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Yahoo YoDeLs…  Yahoo Design Labs (YoDeLs) are:   an intensive week of ideaDon, design, iteraDon,  and user tesDng, where designers, engineers,  product managers, and researchers work  together on a focused challenge. Results: wireframes that have been tested and reﬁned  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

InnovaDon workshop components:   1.  Creative ideation 2.  Filter ideas using the innovation funnel 3.  Collaborative design with stakeholders 4.  Rapid user feedback and iteration 5.  Consensus to drive innovative product to market Jim Nieters, Gesche Joost, Heather Cassano 

The Basic Idea:  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Call for parDcipaDon‐ CHI Panel scenarios   •  Panelists present “one thing” for UX relevance  •  Audience (you) present real challenges  •  Panelist evaluate which “one thing” is best  •  Deﬁne the best context for each “one thing”  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Thank you! Jim Nieters– Director, User Experience Design, YSM and Apt from Yahoo! jnieters @yahoo-inc.com, jnieters@mac.com, www.jimnieters.com

YoDeL‐ Brand Pyramid Example for Audi  What do I offer you? Brand Promise Smart, German, What (who) am I like? Engineer, Energetic, Personality Youthful How do I present Sophisticated, Elegant, Tone/Expression myself? Bullet-Proof, Leading-Edge What Technological Safety Design Premium defines Goals Progress Quality me? Core Values

YoDeL‐ TesDng the paper prototypes  One or two rounds of usability tesDng and reﬁnement  Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009 

Making UX Relevant in Tough Times or "Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows"

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